Summary

In Liberian cosmology, the spirit world influences and regulates all aspects of daily life, for good and evil. Liberians of various religious backgrounds—Indigenous faiths, Christianity, and Islam—believe in the supernatural abilities of witches to cause misery to and even kill their victims. Throughout Liberia’s history, most accused witches have been women and people with physical disabilities. Since the 1990s, Liberia has witnessed a surge in violence against women and children, boys and girls, accused of witchcraft. Scholars see this surge as a reaction to mass violence and socio-economic uncertainty—the country’s fourteen-year civil war, massive unemployment, state corruption, lack of adequate health care and educational infrastructure, and more. Many accused witches in this period, like in precolonial Liberia are from low socio-economic backgrounds, and they are often attacked physically and sexually, with impunity.

And yet, while Liberian national laws criminalize violence against women and children, efforts to combat witchcraft violence through legal means have been minimal and ineffective. This is partly the result of how laws and policies were conceptualized and implemented in Liberia by international organizations, such as the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and Amnesty International, during post-civil war reconstruction of the country (2003–2010). Lack of funding and Liberians’ persistent belief in the power of witchcraft, including politicians, help to explain why little has been done to eradicate witchcraft violence against women and children.